Fields of Honey
Fields of Honey is the 30th episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. It was written by Sherri Stoner and Tom Ruegger and directed by Ken Boyer. Plot It is Looniversity Day, which means that the Tiny Toons get to work with their mentors; Buster gets to work with Bugs, Plucky gets to work with Daffy, and even Elmyra gets to work with Elmer. Unfortunately, Babs has no mentor, and all she gets is study hall. The reason for Babs' lack of a mentor is that the female Looney Tunes characters do not receive as much attention as the male ones, and none of them have traits that appeal to Babs. Later that day, Buster and Plucky argue over whether Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck is the greatest cartoon star. They ask Babs, who boredly tells them, "They're both great." Plucky decides they should watch the cartoons at the film vault to see their mentors in action and decide who is best. The Vault Keeper asks Buster, Babs, and Plucky what their purposes are. Buster and Plucky tell them about their debate and the vault keeper gives them cartoons to watch in viewing room #1. Babs asks the vault keeper why there aren't any female Looney Tunes. The vault keeper tells her he's sorry. He asks her to watch over the films while he is away, and Babs tells him she's got nothing better to do. Just then, a mysterious voice tells her, "If you watch them, you will find her." and hands her a film can. Babs spends the next five months watching the cartoons, until she finally watches "Bosko in Person" and sees Honey, whom she finally sees as her hero. She decides to find her and tell her how great she is. The vault keeper tells her that it's impossible, as nobody has seen Honey in over fifty years. Babs sets off to find about Honey. At the library, she asks Bookworm to do some research about her. A video on the computer tells her that Honey was Warner Bros.' first female cartoon star. Unfortunately, with the creation of Porky Pig, Warner's first cartoon superstar, Honey and Bosko's popularity sank. They took their act to the supper club circuit, but with disastrous results. Bosko tried a solo career, but nobody seemed to care about him anymore. In the early 1960s, a reunion was planned, but cancelled, as Honey mysteriously disappeared. Bosko spent years searching for Honey, until he too, faded into obscurity. The video leaves both Babs and Bookworm in tears, but Babs now increases her resolve and she is determined to find her. At the cafeteria, Buster and Plucky bribe Hamton with pieces of cake to settle their debate. Hamton tells them that he has always liked Porky. Babs arrives to ask them questions about Honey, but with unsuccessful results, as Buster, Plucky, and Hamton have never heard of her. They think Babs is going insane. Later that night, Babs goes to a baseball stadium and decides to give up, as she doesn't know how to find Honey. The mysterious voice tells her to build a movie theater so the public can watch Honey cartoons. He also tells her that laughter keeps a toon young and immortal, as proven with Bugs Bunny, who is over 50 years old. When the laughter stops and the toon is forgotten, it begins to age and fade from existence. Babs tells the other Looney Tunes about her plan, to build a huge theater that shows Honey Cartoons. Bugs doesn't think Babs is feeling normal, and sends her to the nurse's office. Babs decides to build the new theater by herself, but she doesn't have the money to do so. She goes to Montana Max's mansion, first disguising her as a Bunny Scout selling carrots, and then as an orphan. Unfortunately, both disguises has no effect on Monty. She finally disguises herself as a businesswoman, who tells Monty that her plan is to send anyone without money to the moon. Monty gives her a bag of money, and thanks her. Babs has built the theater and opened it, but nobody comes. The mysterious voice tells her to advertise. Babs decides to engage in a huge ad campaign, noting that it worked for the Batman series. Babs becomes an advertising rapper and tries to distribute pamphlets, but nobody pays attention to her. The voice tells her that in these modern times, television is the best medium for advertising. That night, Buster decides to watch some TV before going to bed. On TV, he sees various commercials featuring Babs advertising the Honey Cartoons at her theater. Buster is convinced, and decides to go to the theater tomorrow morning. The next morning, Babs has a huge crowd in a zombie-like trance, ready to see the Honey Cartoons. In the crowd is an elderly lady. As the crowd sees the Honey Cartoons, they are an instant success, and the elderly lady reveals herself as Honey, who has been restored to her original beauty. Even Buster and Plucky have to agree that Honey is way cool. They decide to get a pizza as they leave, and Babs tells them she will meet up with them after closing the theater. Honey thanks her for the best night of her life, but Babs is still puzzled as to who the mysterious voice was. The mysterious voice reveals himself as Bosko, who reunites at last with Honey. They set off with Babs bidding them farewell. Cast Allusions * This episode is a parody of the 1989 Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams. In the film, Kevin builds a baseball stadium in order for his favorite baseball players to live again. * When Babs asks Hamton what he knows about Honey, he mentions that it's sweet and Winnie the Pooh has a problem with it (Probably an Addiction). Winnie the Pooh is a series of books about a fictional bear created by A. A. Milne. The rights were licensed to the Walt Disney company in 1961, and in 1966, Disney produced the featurette, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, with several sequels following shortly after. Ever since, Pooh has become one of the most popular characters in the Disney franchise. * One of Babs' commercials is a parody of, and homage to the live-action show, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, complete with screaming at the secret word. * One of Babs' commercials is a parody of the Disneyland commercials, where an announcer asks someone what they're going to do next. * The gag credit asks what happened to McLean Stevenson. Stevenson was an actor best known for his role on M*A*S*H. Stevenson passed away in 1996. * Babs imitates Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. * Honey does imitations of Greta Garbo, Betty Boop, Mae West and Groucho Marx. * Kevin Costner is mentioned in this episode. Notes *This episode aired on November 2, 1990, the fifteenth birthday of Montana Max's voice actor, Danny Cooksey. *Babs Bunny's primary source of unhappiness in this episode was the lack of famous female Looney Tunes. Several female characters were created for the Looney Tunes franchise from 1930 to 1969, but they were not as heavily advertised as the male characters, and none of them shared any similarities with Babs. Penelope Pussycat, who partially inspired Furrball, was not presented as an Acme Looniversity teacher most likely because she never starred in an animated short independently. Petunia Pig was more prominent in the comics than in the shorts and was relatively obscure, as was Miss Prissy from the shorts starring Foghorn Leghorn. Granny and Witch Hazel already had Mary Melody and Witch Sandy for Tiny Toon counterparts. Prior to Babs was a female rabbit named Honey Bunny, whose appearances were limited to the comics. *Despite Babs' complaints about gender inequality amongst the Looney Tunes stars, three of her classmates (Elmyra Duff, Fifi La Fume and Sweetie Bird) do not seem to mind having mentors who are of the opposite gender as themselves (Elmer Fudd, Pepé Le Pew and Tweety Bird). *The clip in the video Babs watches involving Bosko, Honey, and Porky partly contradicts their actual history; Porky wouldn't be introduced until "I Haven't Got a Hat", about a year after Bosko and Honey's last Looney Tunes short, "Bosko's Picture Show". *When the students laugh at Bugs Bunny, Hamton is wearing a green shirt and no pants while Shirley the Loon is wearing a pink blouse and a red skirt. *The Warner siblings in Animaniacs are similar in appearance to the 1990s redesigns of Bosko and Honey. *Three different replacements for Mel Blanc voice characters in this episode: Jeff Bergman as Bugs Bunny, Noel Blanc (Mel's son) as Porky Pig, and Greg Burson as Elmer Fudd. *The original Bosko and Honey were cartoon humans with African-American characterizations. In this episode, they were redesigned to be vaguely doglike. *William "Bill" Ross won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for this episode. *In one scene, Babs attempts to advertise her showing of classic Honey cartoons by handing out fliers on the street while rapping. Hip hop was the latest craze in the eighties to nineties. However, a mysterious voice tells her "This is the nineties. If you want to advertise, think television." Incidentally, the nineties had only just begun at the time of this episode's debut, making the reference more about a new generation than the current decade. *The "Bosko and Honey" sign has the the Beatles name. It references the band's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. Gallery Fieldsofhoney.jpg|Babs in the film vault Category:Tiny Toons Season 1 Category:Tiny Toon Adventures episodes Category:1990 Category:Tiny Toon Adventures